To preach is to deliver a sermon or an otherwise powerful message. You may go to church to hear the minister preach, and you may preach tolerance to your friends.
- Pronunciation: /pritʃ/
- English Description: deliver a lecture or talk
- Chinese Translation: 说教(shuo1 jiao4)
- Spanish Translation: predicar
- STORY: Have you ever heard anyone say, "That's preaching to the choir"? That means you're wasting your words on somebody who already believes what you believe. If you're giving an impassioned speech about recycling to an audience dressed in reclaimed clothing and sandals made of old tires, you're likely to be preaching to the choir. The word preach comes from the Latin prae, "before," and dicare,"declare." When you preach, you're not just talking — you're declaring something with conviction.
EXAMPLE SENTENCE:
- The audience might have questioned his right to carry on preaching.
- Some of these entrepreneurs preach their messages off the rooftops, and others are more subtle.
*New word description, story and part of "EXAMPLE SENTENCE" are cited in Vocabulary.com